Carbon heats up NSW election

NSW Opposition Leader Barry O’
Farrell
has positioned himself as the man to take on Canberra if he is elected at the March 26 state election, pledging to fight the federal government’s carbon tax.

Mr O’Farrell, who addressed about 600 supporters at the Liberal party’s campaign launch dinner at Sydney’s Darling Harbour on Friday night, attacked NSW Premier
Kristina Keneally
for supporting the tax. He said it could increase the average family’s electricity bill by up to $500, wiping out the bulk of the benefit from Labor’s planned energy rebates. The Coalition has also promised a series of energy rebates to families.

Ms Keneally said the opposition leader should focus on state rather than federal issues. She was courting the teachers’ vote on Friday with a promise to spend $316 million upgrading and building new TAFE campuses and training 3000 new apprentices.

However, the NSW Teachers Federation said it was unclear whether this represented new money and new places.

“We are calling for clarity around whether this is actually a significant improvement over and above already budgeted maintenance spending and apprenticeship positions," said Bob Lipscombe, the federation’s president.

It was a mixed week for both parties in the election campaign.

Labor headed off a confrontation with the powerful nurses union, agreeing to a package that included 1400 new nurses and a 9.7 per cent pay increase over three years. However, Ms Keneally’s personal popularity rating took a hit and she was highly criticised for her role in the state’s controversial $5.3 billion electricity sale, particularly for shutting down parliament in a bid to avoid an upper house inquiry.

Mr O’Farrell, meanwhile, was upstaged by Ms Keneally in a radio and a television debate despite holding a commanding lead in the polls. But that is unlikely to change the expected result.

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“It doesn’t matter what Keneally does and how well she performs because it’s not about her," David Burchell, a senior lecturer at the University of Western Sydney, said.

“A lot of the Labor campaign is not about this election at all. It is about Labor trying to hold onto strategic parts of Sydney so that an election win is not so unattainable at the next election, or the one after that."